INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

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LYON, France – Addressing INTERPOL’s ninth Heads of National Central Bureaus (NCBs) conference, attended by some 280 delegates from 156 countries, INTERPOL President Mireille Ballestrazzi said that more than ever before contemporary crime was defined by its transnational nature.

“INTERPOL needs to have a global view that is also local in its focus. This is why INTERPOL doesn’t offer just one, but many solutions in response to the different types of crime in each of our member countries, adapted to individual national law enforcement needs,” said President Ballestrazzi.

INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble told the senior police officials from around the globe that the recent Boston marathon bombing was a stark and chilling reminder of the challenges facing police worldwide and ‘a wake-up call for those who believed the threat of terrorism had diminished’.

“No matter how many days, weeks, months or years pass without a major terrorist attack, it only takes one such incident to bring us back to the cruel reality faced by citizens around the world on a daily basis,” said Mr Noble.

“This attack also highlights security issues connected to large-scale sporting events and the challenges they pose to law enforcement with the potential for terrorists to take advantage of a major public event to attract global attention,” added the INTERPOL Chief.

With more than 150 marathons due to take place across some 40 countries over the next two months, in addition to other high-profile events, INTERPOL has requested its 190 member countries to share any information about potential terrorist, criminal or suspicious activity with the global policing community.

“The challenges facing law enforcement today are as varied as they are real, from bombings to cybercrime and we need to ensure that we do all in our power to reduce the risks posed to citizens both off- and online,” said Mr Noble.

“As the only truly global police agency, INTERPOL is uniquely placed to make sure that the information and support that frontline officers need to do their jobs is available to them,” added the INTERPOL Head, pointing to the agreement between INTERPOL and the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee to support the safety and security of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and other major sporting events over the next 10 years.

With cybercrime one of the main challenges for law enforcement in the 21st century, the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation – due to open in 2014 in Singapore – will provide an essential common platform for the Organization to assist its member countries in fighting this and other related emerging crime threats.

Following the recent announcement of future technical partnership between INTERPOL and Kaspersky Labs, in his keynote address to the meeting, CEO Eugene Kaspersky said that cooperation between industry and transnational law enforcement via INTERPOL is of vital importance in securing cyberspace.

“Cybercrime doesn’t have borders, it doesn’t have distance and it doesn’t have time; it travels at the speed of electricity and it is therefore very difficult to find out who lies behind cyberattacks,” said Mr Kaspersky.

“The online world has to some extent merged with the physical world in terms of what it is capable of, including causing tangible damage. And though the good guys and the bad guys in both worlds behave in very similar ways, there still appear to be difficulties in effectively applying existing approaches to the new cyber domain,” added Mr Kaspersky.

Other issues to be discussed during the three-day (17 – 19 April) conference include human trafficking, financial crime and firearms related crimes.